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- Curio Professional 13 2018
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- Curio Professional 13 2019
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Developer: Zengobi
Price: $99 (home); $149 (professional); $69 (K-12/educational)
Requirements: Mac OS X 10.4
Reallusion cartoon animator 4 11 1123 1. Universal: Yes
Trial: Fully-featured (15 days); 60-day extensions available. File pane 1 10 7 download.
A lot has progressed since ATPM’s review of Curio 2.4. No longerjust a virtual whiteboard or collection bucket for project data, Curiohas matured into a fully-featured project planning suite. Version 4,Zengobi’s recent release, brings even more goodies to the mix forstill better project development.
Felt Needs
Why do you need a project planning application? Most of us haveundertaken projects that go beyond a simple task list, something morethan a simple word processor or even a GTD application could tackle in ahelpful way. When it comes to developing these into well-planned (andtherefore, usually, well-executed) projects, a specialized tool likeCurio can be the very thing you’ll want to pull from your toolbox.
Zengobi likes to encourage creativity—that’s one of the core conceptsbehind Curio—and along those lines they have provided a few profiles of users in differentenvironments: artists and designers, of course, but also a professor, asoftware developer, and an entrepreneur. If you’re wondering how (or if)Curio might be helpful in your workflow, you will find these helpfulstarting points to think about how to use it.
What’s New
I’m not going to re-cover the ground that Matthew did in the first review,instead assuming you’ve read that review. Since version 2.4, however, alot—and I mean really, a lot—has been added to make Curio a much morecomplete package.
Version 3—a full generation behind the current release—introduced theProject Center and Presentation mode. It also improved searching,including use of metadata like tags and timestamps. Integration wasboosted as well, most notably with the addition of iCal and Webarchiving support. Many other features were also brought in; therelease notes for version 3 will walk youthrough these great improvements. Later 3.x updates brought iPhotointegration, a universal binary, and speed/performance increases.
With the recent release of version 4, Zengobi has built in a number ofkey features that enhance existing abilities and add new ones. Majoradditions include mind-mapping, the Shelf, and greater control over theparameters about projects. I’ll elaborate on each of these in a moment.
Other improvements include better formatting styles, tagging, and“adornments” such as flags. Also, further integration and import/exportsupport has been added, along with easier list-management through newkeyboard shortcuts. A number of other features and improvements have beenadded; you can read about them in detail in the version 4 release notes.
The major additions, though are the first three I mentioned above. Tobegin with, mind-mapping expands the abilities of Curio to be a completebrainstorming appliance. For the uninitiated, mind-mapping is adiagram-like rendering of words or ideas, including connections andlinks between them; the concept was formalized by Tony Buzan, who codified some best practices foreffective mind-mapping. Because of its flexible structure and adaptiveapproach to the introduction of new ideas, mind-mapping is preferred bymany for note-taking, early-stage project planning, and generalbrainstorming.
There are several good mind-mapping tools available for Macs, but mostof them are stand-alone operations; Curio’s integration of mind-mappingwithin a larger planning framework, therefore, makes it a more idealsolution for those who wish to include their mind-maps as an ongoingpart of their planning, rather than just a starting point. (To be fair,Curio is not the only project manager that offers this; others, such asConceptDraw also include mind-mappingin their project-planning suites.)
As mind-mapping applications go, Curio’s is good. It’s easy to do arapid-entry style mind-map, so brainstorming can flow without thedistraction of having to right-click on cells or pull down menus tocreate sibling or child cells. Editing your maps once they are done isalso easy—the provided inspector allows you to quickly change the colorof cells and lines, their shapes, and even the fonts and text size.
One key mind-mapping concept appears to be missing, though: you cannotcreate links between sibling cells, nor can you connect one cell withmultiple other cells. Therefore, each idea must remain purelyhierarchical in relation to other represented ideas. In this way, Curiohas only a diagramming interface that is very similar to mind-maps, butnot a true mind-map element.
Shelf
Curio Professional 13 2018
The shelf, another core addition to version 4, offers a real range offunction to Curio. Think of the Shelf as a dynamic Inspector with morecapability than any Inspector you’ve ever seen. In fact, the Inspectoritself lives on the Shelf, but so does a Snippets module (like amulti-page clipboard), a Search module for both searching metadatawithin a Curio project and also applying it, and the Flashlight module,which is an adaptation of Mac OS X 10.4.x’s Spotlight, allowing you tosearch your hard drive for a file you would like to add to a project.These modules are powerful, and deserve some attention to learn themwell. For example, the Snippets module includes a Snippets service,giving you the ability to quickly add any clipping from any applicationto the Snippets, whether Curio is currently running or not.
The final major addition (in my opinion) is the expansion of tools formanaging projects that are underway. Now, tools for better delegation,assigning priority to specific tasks within a project, and indicatingprogress toward completion are all readily at hand. This makes Curio abetter tool for collaborative work and extends its usefulness beyondjust the planning stage more completely.
The other updates and additions are good and useful tools. I wouldencourage you to explore them more through Curio’s Web site, rather thangoing into great detail here.
Using Curio
So, how well does it work? Well, my first impression of Curio was that Iwasn’t sure what I was looking at. Because Curio does so much, it is notlike opening an application with a specific function: when you firstdownload, say, a new word processor, you have some clear preconceptionof what that program is supposed to do, and you contextualize all thebuttons and menus when you first open it. Curio offers a number of verydifferent tools, so even though I was thinking “project planning” when Iopened it up, I felt a little lost at first.
That said, Curio includes a project file of its own, entitled “Welcometo Curio!” This file automatically opens the first time Curio islaunched, and it provides a comprehensive introduction to all that Curiocan do, and is easy to follow along with. The introduction will quicklyhelp you overcome a sense of being lost, just as it did for me. Irecommend reading through this completely before you dig in too deeplywith planning your own projects. [NB: this file is a few years old, anddoesn’t include coverage of new features like the Shelf ormind-mapping.]
Once I began to use Curio to plan, however, I found that its tools aregreat for all stages of project planning. For example, Dossier is awonderful template for outlining the basic motivations of a project:project title, when it was assigned, and by whom are included, as wellas core concepts like overview, background, resources, and deliverables.Having quick access to this list alone is helpful.
Curio Professional 13 20
Idea spaces are a key concept for Curio—they are where you do much ofyour planning. Whether you plan best with text, graphs, drawings, orpictures, you can create unlimited numbers of idea spaces for yourproject. If you use a tablet such as a Wacom, you may use it on ideaspaces as well, to draw, scribble, or edit—making note-taking inmeetings or planning sessions even easier.
As suggested above, Curio doesn’t assume that all resources for projectswill be created and maintained in Curio—instead, you can add in URLs,documents, images, movies, audio—just about any type of file that mightbe useful. In fact, it is easy to create new documents from Curio withother applications, using the Instant Document feature, which launchesthe specified application and automatically links the created documentto that project.
It’s also nice how well Curio cooperates with other applications forimporting and exporting. You can drag an iCal event to Curio, and itwill be added to the idea space and tracked. Import an outline fromOmniOutliner or another outliner in OPML format, and it will beautomatically added as a list. Paste an e-mail into an idea space easilyfrom Mail. Export project files as a photo album to iPhoto, or uploadthem to .Mac. Curio is not a group project planner, but it is easy tomail the whole project to your team via Mail or other e-mail clients,either in the Curio format (giving them editing options) or as PDF.
Concluding Thoughts
Overall, I am quite satisfied with Curio. I tend to keep a lot ofprojects in process at once, and having one application to be a centralorganizer for them is very useful. I’d like to see some furtherintegrations improvements, like more interactivity with iCal for eventsand tasks. I’d also like to see the mind-map module offer truemind-mapping, and I’d like those maps to be able to be converted tolists or outlines. And I’d like a bit more for working with teams—morecollaboration tools.
Curio Professional 13 2020
There are also some key parts of traditional project management that aremissing. Curio does a good job supporting task lists, but there isnothing built into Curio for contingent tasks, or for understanding therelationships between one task and others. Many project management toolsinclude charting functions for Gantt charts, for example, that will showyou graphically on a time line what tasks must be completed beforeothers can begin. This is a key concept for good resource management,and it is a glaring omission in Curio.
Curio Professional 13.2
One more caveat as you consider Curio: pay attention to the differencesbetween the Home, Pro, and K12/Education versions. The Home version iscertainly a very good buy, but it lacks a few of the features that I foundso helpful, such as the Dossier and Project sharing via e-mail. Thesefeatures, available only in the other two versions, make the higherprice worth it to me; your needs may vary, of course. The Pro versionalso offers a bit more customization, including a few different “modes”like full-screen and mini mode. The K12 version, while offering all ofthe Pro features, also has some built-in filters for profanity andaccess restrictions, as well as school-appropriate templates and Sleuthsites. All versions fit their intended markets well, but there is enoughvariance that care in choosing is, as always, a good idea.
Other than these few problems, however, I’ve found Curio a capableproject manager. For the money, it’s a great buy; the Home version isnot crippled by any means, and if you qualify for the educationaldiscounts then the price is even better. Professionals will want the Proversion, but even that is reasonably and competitively priced. Those whoneed the missing features I mentioned will want to wait or searchelsewhere; anyone else, however, should find Curio to be moneywell-spent.
Curio Professional 13 2019
Copyright © 2007 Ed Eubanks, Jr. Reviewing inATPM is open to anyone. If you’re interested, write to us [email protected].